Chelsea Ladies 1-2 Wolfsburg Ladies: Blues' Champions League dream dented
Wednesday 11 November 2015 21:43, UK
Chelsea Ladies' hopes of reaching the UEFA Women's Champions League quarter-finals were dealt a blow as they slipped to a 2-1 defeat at home to Wolfsburg.
After Chelsea's Claire Rafferty (3) and Wolfsburg's Babett Peter (54) had both scored own goals, Caroline Graham Hansen's fine 78th-minute strike settled the tie in favour of the German side.
With a staggering four weeks separating Wednesday's last-16 tie and Chelsea's previous competitive game, a slow start from the hosts proved to be costly as Rafferty turned Peter's cross beyond Hedvig Lindahl in the Chelsea goal in the opening exchanges.
The visitors controlled large swathes of the opening 45 minutes but, inspired after the interval, the 2015 FA Women's Super League champions grew and staged a stirring comeback.
And they got their reward shortly after the break as Soyun Ji forced Peter to guide the ball beyond the Wolfsburg stopper to ignite the Blues' hopes.
Chelsea pushed for a second but were unable to breach the resolute Wolfsburg defence and they were dealt a cruel blow as Hansen rounded off a mazy run with a fine finish 12 minutes from time.
The result leaves Chelsea with plenty of work to do ahead of next Wednesday's second leg, with Ralf Kellermann's Wolfsburg firmly in the driving seat for a place in the last eight having scored two away goals.
